Cepton Partners with Celestica to Mass Produce its LiDAR Solutions
By Liqun Han, VP of Operations at Cepton Technologies, Inc.
LiDAR solutions are the key to our autonomous future. LiDAR is being integrated into UAVs for 3D mapping, into vehicles for enhanced navigation, and many other innovative and exciting applications. Over the past few years, Cepton’s solutions — built upon our industry leading micro-motion technology (MMT™) — quickly gained significant market traction. We now have more than 70 customers in various industries including automotive, surveying, agriculture and security. With our growing customer roster and increasing demand for our solutions, coupled with our goal of being ready for ultra-high volume production for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and Tier 1s by 2020, we needed a manufacturer that would enable us to bring our LiDAR solutions to customers at scale and at a low cost.
After connecting with a number of manufacturers, Cepton selected Celestica because of the company’s ability to quickly ramp up production of our LiDAR solutions to meet automotive requirements through an automated manufacturing process. Celestica stood out for its impressive track record, advanced technologies, fast response and commitment to Cepton’s vision. Celestica is able to manufacture Cepton’s LiDAR solutions at a low-cost and alter the design as needed for high volume production, all while ensuring that the end product meets the quality and requirements that customers expect. Thanks to the design of our MMT platform with no rotational or frictional parts, Cepton’s LiDAR sensors are ideal for automated manufacturing at a large scale.
Through this partnership Cepton will be able to more efficiently meet customer demands for high volumes of automotive-grade LiDAR sensors for automotive and mobility applications. Working with a manufacturer enables Cepton to use our resources more efficiently, instead of taking on the massive costs of building a factory and forming a large manufacturing team. The development and validation of the automated production process for Cepton’s LiDAR will begin at Celestica’s plant in Toronto, Canada. Future volume manufacturing will then transition to Celestica’s facilities in Asia and Mexico.
This production model ensures our customers always receive top quality products quickly, but most importantly at a viable price point. All our LiDAR sensors will be automotive grade to the highest standard for harsh automotive environments. Volume production will begin in early 2019 with full volume production by 2020. Our goal is that with Celestica we will be able to produce millions of LiDAR units per year in the near future. Each LiDAR solution will be available for just a few hundred dollars, making LiDAR truly accessible and affordable for the mass market.
